System and method for exchanging loyalty points for acquisitions

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are provided for facilitating an acquisition from a merchant, whereby payment for the acquisition is made at least partially through automated redemption of loyalty points from a loyalty account. In particular, information is received at a loyalty point exchange system from the merchant. The information may include loyalty data indicating that the acquisition was paid for using a transaction card account that is to be reimbursed using loyalty points from the loyalty account. The loyalty account is debited by an amount equal to a currency value of the acquisition and the transaction card account is credited the amount charged for the acquisition. Loyalty points may, alternatively, be used to directly pay for purchases without the steps of charging and crediting a transaction card.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of, claims priority to and thebenefit of, U.S. Ser. No. 11/862,456, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOREXCHANGING LOYALTY POINTS FOR ACQUISITIONS,” filed on Sep. 27, 2007. The'456 application is a divisional of, claims priority to and the benefitof, U.S. Pat. No. 7,680,688, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EXCHANGINGLOYALTY POINTS FOR ACQUISITIONS,” issued on Mar. 16, 2010 (aka U.S. Ser.No. 10/260,829 filed on Sep. 30, 2002). The '688 patent is thenon-provisional of, claims priority to and the benefit of, U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/384,010, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHODFOR EXCHANGING LOYALTY POINTS FOR TICKETS,” filed May 28, 2002. All ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to loyalty systems, and moreparticularly, to systems and methods for utilizing loyalty points forreimbursing a charge for an acquisition.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Loyalty programs (also known as incentive or reward programs) aretypically very popular in many types of businesses. For example, loyaltyprograms may be implemented to increase the use of a product by acurrent customer or to obtain additional customers. With regard totransaction cards, such as charge cards, loyalty programs may encouragea loyalty program participant to use a particular transaction card formaking acquisitions. Typically, loyalty points accrue in a loyaltyaccount and are earned from transactions that involve participantbehavior that is encouraged by the loyalty program sponsor. Theseloyalty points may be redeemed for prizes, upgrades, and merchandise,thus rewarding the participant for the behavior. However, prior artloyalty point redemption processes lack “real-time” use by theparticipant. For instance, in a typical redemption process, aparticipant calls the loyalty system and requests to redeem a number ofloyalty points in exchange for a certificate that can be used at aparticular merchant (on-line or off-line). The participant is mailed acertificate (or provided with an online code) and then can redeem thecertificate at that merchant.

This typical redemption process is time-consuming and may be annoyingfor the consumer, thus degrading the value of the loyalty reward.Furthermore, this redemption process is generally not practical for theacquisition of goods and services that are in high demand and/or thathave short selling periods. For example, difficulties may be encounteredwhen a participant desires to redeem loyalty points for tickets to aparticular concert. By the time the participant requests a certificate,receives the requested certificate, and contacts the ticket agency toredeem the certificate, desired tickets to the particular concert may nolonger be available. This participant may have only wanted to redeem theloyalty points for that one particular concert. Furthermore, in thisexample, the participant may now be left holding a certificate that isinappropriate for other ticket purchases. For example, the certificatevalue may not match the price of a later selected ticket, or thecertificate may be restricted to a particular ticket agency.Furthermore, the participant risks misplacing the certificate before thenext redemption opportunity.

Prior art systems may also offer the ability for members of loyaltyprograms to telephone the ticketing agency for a special offer (i.e.discount, or free gift) through the input of an offer code into thetelephone system. The member may obtain a discount or gift with theticket purchase when tickets are received in the mail. These “one-off”promotions are typically determined by the producers/owners of theactual event who are the ticketing agency's clients. However, efficientuse of rewards points as a payment option through a ticketing agency oron an exchange does not exist. In general, the ability to efficientlyacquire goods or services with loyalty points without pre-approval doesnot exist. Therefore, a system is needed to facilitate an expeditedmethod for purchasing “available” tickets with loyalty points.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Systems and methods are provided for facilitating an acquisition from amerchant, whereby payment for the acquisition is made at least partiallythrough automated redemption of loyalty points from at least one loyaltyaccount. In particular, information is received at a loyalty pointexchange system from the merchant. The information may include loyaltydata indicating that the acquisition was at least partially paid forusing a transaction card account that is to be at least partiallyreimbursed using loyalty points from the loyalty account. The loyaltyaccount is debited by an amount equal to a currency value of theacquisition and the transaction card account is credited the amountcharged for the acquisition. In accordance with another exemplaryembodiment of the present invention, loyalty points may be used todirectly pay for purchases without the steps of charging and crediting atransaction card.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of the present invention may be derived byreferring to the detailed description and claims when considered inconnection with the Figures, wherein like reference numbers refer tosimilar elements throughout the Figures, and:

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram overview of an exemplary loyaltypoint exchange system in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a general overview of an exemplary loyalty pointexchange method in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention; and

FIGS. 3A & 3B illustrate a more detailed exemplary loyalty pointexchange method in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

While the exemplary embodiments herein are described in sufficientdetail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, itshould be understood that other embodiments may be realized and thatlogical and mechanical changes may be made without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention. Thus, the following detaileddescription is presented for purposes of illustration only and not oflimitation.

In general, a user communicates with a merchant, indicates a desire toacquire a product, and chooses to pay for the acquisition with loyaltypoints. As used herein, an acquisition includes the purchase, rental,lease, and/or the taking custody of goods or services. During theprocess of paying the merchant for the acquisition, the user may beprompted as to the possibility of using loyalty points as the method ofpayment and the user may also be presented with terms and/or conditions.Initially, a transaction card account may be charged for theacquisition; however, a loyalty account is subsequently debited and thetransaction card account is credited. Requests to exchange loyaltypoints that fail to qualify may result in all or part of the chargeremaining on the transaction card account. In another exemplaryembodiment of the present invention, the charging and crediting of thetransaction card may be omitted and the merchant may be paid directlyusing loyalty points.

As used herein, the terms “user”, “end user”, “consumer”, “customer” or“participant” may be used interchangeably with each other, and eachshall mean any person, entity, machine, hardware, software or business.Furthermore, the terms “ticketing agency”, “business” or “merchant” maybe used interchangeably with each other and shall mean any person,entity, machine, hardware, software or business.

A loyalty program may include one or more loyalty accounts. Exemplaryloyalty programs include frequent flyer miles, on-line points earnedfrom viewing or purchasing products or websites on-line and programsassociated with diner's cards, credit cards, debit cards, hotel cards,and/or the like. Generally, the user is both the owner of thetransaction card account and the participant in the loyalty program;however, this association is not necessary. For example, a participantin a loyalty program may gift loyalty points to a user who pays for apurchase with his own transaction account, but uses the gifted loyaltypoints instead of paying the monetary value.

Furthermore, a “code”, “account number”, “identifier” or “loyaltynumber”, as used herein, includes any device, code, or otheridentifier/indicia suitably configured to allow the consumer to interactor communicate with the system, such as, for example,authorization/access code, personal identification number (PIN),Internet code, other identification code, and/or the like which isoptionally located on a rewards card, charge card, credit card, debitcard, prepaid card, telephone card, smart card, magnetic stripe card,bar code card, radio frequency card and/or the like. The account numbermay be distributed and stored in any form of plastic, electronic,magnetic, radio frequency, audio and/or optical device capable oftransmitting or downloading data from itself to a second device. Acustomer account number may be, for example, a sixteen-digit credit cardnumber, although each credit provider has its own numbering system, suchas the fifteen-digit numbering system used by an exemplary loyaltysystem. Each company's credit card numbers comply with that company'sstandardized format such that the company using a sixteen-digit formatmay generally use four spaced sets of numbers, as represented by thenumber “0000 0000 0000 0000”. The first five to seven digits arereserved for processing purposes and identify the issuing bank, cardtype and etc. In this example, the last sixteenth digit is used as a sumcheck for the sixteen-digit number. The intermediary eight-to-ten digitsare used to uniquely identify the customer. In addition, loyalty accountnumbers of various types may be used.

For more information on loyalty systems, transaction systems, andelectronic commerce systems, see, for example, U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 09/836,213, filed on Apr. 17, 2001 by inventors Voltmer, et al.and entitled System And Method For Networked Loyalty Program; U.S.Continuation-In-Part patent application Ser. No. 10/027,984, filed onDec. 20, 2001 by inventors Ariff, et al. and entitled System And MethodFor Networked Loyalty Program; U.S. Continuation-In-Part patentapplication Ser. No. 10/010,947, filed on Nov. 6, 2001 by inventorsHaines, et al. and entitled System And Method For Networked LoyaltyProgram; U.S. Continuation-In-Part patent application Ser. No.10/084,744, filed on Feb. 26, 2002 by inventors Bishop, et al. andentitled System And Method For Securing Data Through A PDA Portal; theShop AMEX™ system as disclosed in Ser. No. 60/230,190, filed Sep. 5,2000; the Loyalty As Currency™ and Loyalty Rewards Systems disclosed inSer. No. 60/197,296 filed on Apr. 14, 2000, Ser. No. 60/200,492 filedApr. 28, 2000, Ser. No. 60/201,114 filed May 2, 2000; a digital walletsystem disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 09/652,899 filed Aug. 31, 2000; astored value card as disclosed in Ser. No. 09/241,188 filed on Feb. 1,1999; a system for facilitating transactions using secondary transactionnumbers disclosed in Ser. No. 09/800,461 filed on Mar. 7, 2001, and alsoin related provisional application Ser. No. 60/187,620 filed Mar. 7,2000, Ser. No. 60/200,625 filed Apr. 28, 2000 and Ser. No. 60/213,323filed May 22, 2000, all of which are herein incorporated by reference.Other examples of an online loyalty systems are disclosed in NetcentivesU.S. Pat. No. 5,774,870, issued on Jun. 30, 1998, and U.S. Pat. No.6,009,412, issued on Dec. 29, 1999, both of which are herebyincorporated by reference.

With reference now to FIG. 1, in one embodiment, a loyalty pointexchange system (“loyalty system”) 100 comprises a merchant system 120,an exchange system 130, a loyalty accounts system 140, and a transactionaccount system 150. The systems and/or components of the systemsdiscussed herein may include a host server or other computing systemsincluding a processor for processing digital data, a memory coupled tosaid processor for storing digital data, an input digitizer coupled tothe processor for inputting digital data, an application program storedin said memory and accessible by said processor for directing processingof digital data by said processor, a display coupled to the processorand memory for displaying information derived from digital dataprocessed by said processor and a plurality of databases, the databasesincluding client data, merchant data, financial institution data and/orlike data that could be used in association with the present invention.As those skilled in the art may appreciate, the user computer maytypically include an operating system (e.g., Windows NT, 95/98/2000,Linux, Solaris, etc.) as well as various conventional support softwareand drivers typically associated with computers. The user computer canbe in a home or business environment with access to a network. In anexemplary embodiment, access is through the Internet through acommercially-available web-browser software package.

A database may be any type of database, such as relational,hierarchical, object-oriented, and/or the like. Common database productsthat may be used to implement the databases include DB2 by IBM (WhitePlains, N.Y.), any of the database products available from OracleCorporation (Redwood Shores, Calif.), Microsoft Access or MS SQL byMicrosoft Corporation (Redmond, Wash.), or any other database product. Adatabase may be organized in any suitable manner, including as datatables or lookup tables. Association of certain data may be accomplishedthrough any data association technique known and/or practiced in theart. For example, the association may be accomplished either manually orautomatically. Automatic association techniques may include, forexample, a database search, a database merge, GREP, AGREP, SQL, and/orthe like. The association step may be accomplished by a database mergefunction, for example, using a “key field” in each of the manufacturerand retailer data tables. A “key field” partitions the databaseaccording to the high-level class of objects defined by the key field.For example, a certain class may be designated as a key field in boththe first data table and the second data table, and the two data tablesmay then be merged on the basis of the class data in the key field. Inthis embodiment, the data corresponding to the key field in each of themerged data tables is preferably the same. However, data tables havingsimilar, though not identical, data in the key fields may also be mergedby using AGREP, for example.

In general, merchant system 120 is configured to interact with a user101 making an acquisition and to communicate loyalty data to exchangesystem 130. Exchange system 130 is configured to interact with loyaltyaccounts system 140 to verify qualification for loyalty point exchangesand to cause loyalty accounts system 140 to debit at least one loyaltyaccount. Loyalty accounts system 140 may be configured to communicatewith and cause transaction account system 150 to credit a transactioncard account. Transaction account system 150 may also be configured togenerate bills to user 101 (showing charges and/or credits asapplicable) and/or to pay the merchant for acquisitions charged to thetransaction card account.

Merchant system 120 may be operated, controlled and/or facilitated byany merchant that accepts payment via a transaction card for anacquisition. The merchant may be any person, entity, software and/orhardware that is a provider, broker and/or any other entity in thedistribution chain of goods or services. For example, the merchant maybe a ticket/event agency (e.g., Ticketmaster, Telecharge, Clear Channel,brokers, agents). In this embodiment, by integrating loyalty redemptioncapability with ticket ordering, users can have real-time orsubstantially real-time access to “available” tickets and then choose topay for that purchase with loyalty points. While the invention may bediscussed herein with respect to the purchase of tickets, any productsor services may be purchased with loyalty points in accordance variousaspects of the present invention. In one exemplary embodiment, purchaseswith loyalty points may be made in accordance with, U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/834,478, filed Apr. 13, 2001, entitled “Systemand Method for Using Loyalty Points”, which is incorporated herein byreference. In an alternative embodiment, the tickets to be purchased maybe on the secondary market (e.g., previously purchased tickets) inaccordance with, U.S. Pat. No. 6,067,532, issued May 23, 2000, entitled“Ticket Redistribution System”, which is incorporated herein byreference.

Merchant system 120 is configured to facilitate interaction with user101 which may be any person, entity, software and/or hardware. The usermay communicate with the merchant in person (e.g., at the box office),via telephone (e.g., interactive voice response or “live” customerservice representatives), or electronically (e.g., from a user computer102 via internet 103). During the interaction, the merchant may offergoods and/or services to the user. The merchant may also offer the userthe option of paying for the acquisition, directly or indirectly, usingloyalty points.

Communication between the user and/or merchant and the system of thepresent invention is accomplished through any suitable communicationmeans, such as, for example, a telephone network, Intranet, Internet,point of interaction device (point of sale device, personal digitalassistant, cellular phone, kiosk, etc.), online communications, off-linecommunications, wireless communications, and/or the like. One skilled inthe art may also appreciate that, for security reasons, any databases,systems, or components of the present invention may consist of anycombination of databases or components at a single location or atmultiple locations, wherein each database or system includes any ofvarious suitable security features, such as firewalls, access codes,encryption, de-encryption, compression, decompression, and/or the like.

Merchant system 120 may include a computer that may provide a suitablewebsite or other Internet-based graphical user interface which isaccessible by users. In one embodiment, the Internet Information Server,Microsoft Transaction Server, and Microsoft SQL Server, are used inconjunction with the Microsoft operating system, Microsoft NT web serversoftware, a Microsoft SQL database system, and a Microsoft CommerceServer. Additionally, components such as Access or SQL Server, Oracle,Sybase, Informix MySQL, Intervase, etc., may be used to provide anADO-compliant database management system. The term “webpage” as it isused herein is not meant to limit the type of documents and applicationsthat might be used to interact with the user. For example, a typicalwebsite might include, in addition to standard HTML documents, variousforms, Java applets, Javascript, active server pages (ASP), commongateway interface scripts (CGI), extensible markup language (XML),dynamic HTML, cascading style sheets (CSS), helper applications,plug-ins, and/or the like.

It may be appreciated that many applications of the present inventioncould be formulated. One skilled in the art may appreciate that anetwork may include any system for exchanging data or transactingbusiness, such as the Internet, an intranet, an extranet, WAN, LAN,satellite communications, and/or the like. It is noted that the networkmay be implemented as other types of networks, such as an interactivetelevision (ITV) network. The users may interact with the system via anyinput device such as a keyboard, mouse, kiosk, personal digitalassistant, handheld computer (e.g., Palm Pilot®), cellular phone and/orthe like. Similarly, the invention could be used in conjunction with anytype of personal computer, network computer, workstation, minicomputer,mainframe, or the like running any operating system such as any versionof Windows, Windows NT, Windows2000, Windows 98, Windows 95, MacOS,OS/2, BeOS, Linux, UNIX, Solaris or the like. Moreover, although theinvention is frequently described herein as being implemented withTCP/IP communications protocols, it may be readily understood that theinvention could also be implemented using IPX, Appletalk, IP-6, NetBIOS,OSI or any number of existing or future protocols. Moreover, the systemcontemplates the use, sale or distribution of any goods, services orinformation over any network having similar functionality describedherein.

The computing units may be connected with each other via a datacommunication network. The network may be a public network and assumedto be insecure and open to eavesdroppers. In the illustratedimplementation, the network may be embodied as the internet. In thiscontext, the computers may or may not be connected to the internet atall times. For instance, the customer computer may employ a modem tooccasionally connect to the internet, whereas the bank computing centermight maintain a permanent connection to the internet. Specificinformation related to the protocols, standards, and applicationsoftware utilized in connection with the Internet may not be discussedherein. For further information regarding such details, see, forexample, DILIP NAIK, INTERNET STANDARDS AND PROTOCOLS (1998); JAVA 2COMPLETE, various authors, (Sybex 1999); DEBORAH RAY AND ERIC RAY,MASTERING HTML 4.0 (1997). LOSHIN, TCP/IP CLEARLY EXPLAINED (1997). Allof these texts are hereby incorporated by reference.

The systems may be suitably coupled to the network via data links. Avariety of conventional communications media and protocols may be usedfor data links. For example, a connection to an Internet ServiceProvider (ISP) over the local loop as is typically used in connectionwith standard modem communication, cable modem, Dish networks, ISDN,Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), or various wireless communicationmethods. The merchant system might also reside within a local areanetwork (LAN) which interfaces to network via a leased line (T1, D3,etc.). Such communication methods are well known in the art and arecovered in a variety of standard texts. See, e.g., GILBERT HELD,UNDERSTANDING DATA COMMUNICATIONS (1996), hereby incorporated byreference.

Each user may be equipped with a computing system to facilitate onlinecommerce transactions. The user has a computing unit in the form of apersonal computer, although other types of computing units may be usedincluding laptops, notebooks, hand held computers, set-top boxes, and/orthe like. The merchant has a computing unit implemented in the form of acomputer-server, although other implementations are possible. The bank(transaction account) may have a computing center such as a main framecomputer. However, the bank computing center may be implemented in otherforms, such as a mini-computer, a PC server, a network set of computers,or the like.

Merchant system 120 may be configured to charge a transaction cardaccount for the transaction. Any known or new methods and/or systems forcharging the transaction card account may be used. In various exemplaryembodiments of the present invention, one or more transaction cardaccounts may be used to initially pay for an acquisition. Theacquisition may be only partially paid for using the transaction cardaccount(s), for example, cash may be paid for part of an acquisition andthe transaction card account may be used for the rest of theacquisition.

Furthermore, one or more loyalty accounts may be used to exchangeloyalty points as payment for the acquisition. In one embodiment, asingle transaction card is fully reimbursed, for the charge associatedwith the acquisition, by points from a single loyalty account. Inanother embodiment, the transaction card is reimbursed to the extentthat loyalty points are available and the remainder remains charged tothe transaction card. In other embodiments, loyalty points from one ormore loyalty accounts may be exchanged to credit one or more transactioncard accounts. Moreover, the transaction card accounts may only bepartially reimbursed or may be reimbursed for more or less than theamount charged (for example, where the purchase is made using more thanone card and only one card is credited).

In another embodiment, merchant system 120 is configured to acceptloyalty points directly as payment for the acquisition. In thisembodiment, the merchant does not charge a transaction card account andthe transaction card account is not credited. Instead, merchant system120 is configured to accept loyalty points and debit the loyaltyaccount. For example, in a loyalty points purchase, the merchant may bepaid with loyalty points and the merchant may redeem the loyalty pointsfor monetary value. Such systems for direct payment via loyalty pointsmay be further described herein and/or in the incorporated references,such as, the Loyalty As Currency™ and Loyalty Rewards Systems disclosedin Ser. No. 60/197,296 filed on Apr. 14, 2000, Ser. No. 60/200,492 filedApr. 28, 2000, Ser. No. 60/201,114 filed May 2, 2000.

In one embodiment, an electronic commerce system may be implemented atthe customer/user and issuing bank. For example, the electronic commercesystem is implemented as computer software modules loaded onto thecustomer computer and the banking computing center. In this example, themerchant computer does not require any additional software toparticipate in the online commerce transactions supported by the onlinecommerce system. The user may select loyalty points as a payment optionduring an on-line transaction. In one exemplary on-line embodiment,loyalty points may be selected as a payment option by selecting a webobject such as a check box, radial button, or pull down menu option. Forexample, the user may select loyalty points from a pull down menu thatalso contains other available transaction card options. In an exemplaryoff-line embodiment, a customer service representative, at the requestof the purchaser, may identify (as described in more detail below) thetransaction as a loyalty point transaction. In another example, apoint-of-sale machine may be configured to allow the input of a code, oran answer to a prompt that causes the purchase to be identified as aloyalty points purchase.

In both on-line and off-line embodiments, identifying or “tagging” thefile as a loyalty point transaction may be accomplished by storing theinformation in one or more files that are logically separated from theother transaction card files, if any. Alternatively, if transactions onvarious transaction card accounts are stored in the same file, theloyalty point transactions may be identified by any suitable codedistinguishing the loyalty point transaction from transactions on thevarious transaction cards. Thus, in one exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention, loyalty point transactions may be identified andstored in much the same way that transaction card account transactionsare identified and stored. Two separate files may, in one example, becreated for a single purchase, where one file contains data for thetransaction card account that is initially charged for the purchase, andthe other file contains data for the loyalty points account. In theseexamples, the one or more loyalty point transaction files may be batchtransmitted to exchange server 130, as described further herein.

In another exemplary embodiment, merchant system 120 is configured tocapture loyalty data. For example, merchant system 120 may include amerchant server 122 configured to capture information relevant to theexchange of loyalty points for the transaction. Loyalty data maycomprise the amount paid for acquisition and any suitable identifiercapable of identifying the transaction card account(s) to be creditedand the loyalty account(s) to be debited. Thus, the identifier maysolely comprise a transaction card account identifier (e.g., cardnumber) where the transaction card account is associated with a loyaltyaccount. In another example, the identifier may solely comprise aloyalty account identifier, where the loyalty account is associated witha transaction card account. Alternatively, the identifier may compriseone or more transaction card account identifiers and one or more loyaltyaccount identifiers.

The identifier may comprise an account number, card number, the name ofan individual, social security number, personal identification number,and/or the like. The identifier may be encrypted for communication toexchange system 130. Merchant server 122 may be configured tocommunicate the loyalty data to exchange system 130, for example, inreal-time or by using a “batch” process at the end of each day. Anysuitable means of delivering the loyalty data to exchange system 130 maybe used. In one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, theloyalty data is delivered via internet 124.

A ticketing computer and/or merchant server at the merchant system andthe loyalty computer(s) at the exchange system 130 or loyalty accountssystem 140 may be interconnected via a second network, referred to as apayment network. The payment network represents existing proprietarynetworks that presently accommodate transactions for credit cards, debitcards, and/or other types of financial/banking cards. The paymentnetwork is a closed network that is assumed to be secure fromeavesdroppers. Examples of the payment network include the LoyaltySystem®, VisaNet® and the Veriphone® network.

In an exemplary embodiment, exchange system 130 is any person, entity,hardware and/or software configured to receive the loyalty data and todecrypt the identifier (if applicable). Exchange system 130 may also beconfigured to look up (for example, in a database) associatedtransaction card accounts and/or loyalty accounts associated with theidentifier. In accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention, exchange system 130 is further configured to convert theamount paid for the acquisition to loyalty points. For example, theconversion may multiply the dollar amount by 200 or any other suitablemultiplier to calculate equivalent loyalty points. Furthermore, in oneembodiment, exchange system 130 may be configured to facilitate accessto loyalty accounts system 140, to provide loyalty accounts system 140with the identifier, to verify qualification for exchange of loyaltypoints, and/or to cause loyalty accounts system 140 to debit thecalculated loyalty points. Loyalty accounts system 140 may also beconfigured to report rejected requests for loyalty point exchange.

Loyalty accounts system 140 is any person, entity, hardware and/orsoftware which may be configured to facilitate receiving the calculatedequivalent loyalty points and a loyalty account identifier or otheridentifier, and/or to report back qualification information to exchangesystem 130. This qualification information may facilitate thedetermination of whether a request is a qualifying request for exchangeof loyalty points. For example, loyalty accounts system 140 may reportback whether a loyalty account exists (whether enrolled), if the accountis active, and/or if sufficient loyalty points exist in the account.Loyalty accounts system 140 may also be configured to debit thecalculated loyalty points at the direction of exchange system 130.Loyalty accounts system 140 may also be configured to look up (in adatabase) transaction card accounts associated with the loyalty account.In addition, the debiting of a loyalty account may cause loyaltyaccounts system 140 to directly cause transaction account system 150 tocredit the transaction card account. Optionally, exchange system 130 maycause transaction account system 150 to credit amounts to thetransaction card account. Although discussed as a loyalty accountssystem, the loyalty accounts system may represent other types of cardissuing institutions, such as credit card companies, card sponsoringcompanies, or third party issuers under contract with financialinstitutions. It is further noted that other participants may beinvolved in some phases of the transaction, such as an intermediarysettlement institution, but these participants are not shown.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, loyalty account system 140 may beconfigured to pay the merchant directly for the loyalty point purchases.Furthermore, in this example, the merchant may not charge thetransaction card account and loyalty account system 140 may not creditthe transaction card account. Loyalty account system 140 may make suchpayments to the merchant using loyalty points and the merchant mayredeem the loyalty points for monetary value or for other rewards. Then,the purchaser's loyalty point account may be debited for an amountrepresenting the transaction price.

In one embodiment, transaction account system 150 is any person, entity,hardware and/or software which is configured to receive input causingthe transaction account system to credit the transaction card account.As mentioned above, transaction account system 150 may also beconfigured to pay and settle with the merchant and/or bill thetransaction account owner, the details of which are well-known in theart.

FIG. 2 illustrates a general overview of an exemplary loyalty pointexchange method 200 comprising the steps of: receiving loyalty data atloyalty accounts system 140 (step 210), calculating the total loyaltypoints equal to the currency value of the acquisition (step 220),qualifying the loyalty point exchange (step 230), debiting a loyaltyaccount (step 240), and crediting a transaction card account (step 250).In this manner, a user obtains the benefit of securing the actual“reward” (e.g., tickets), whether or not the purchase qualifies forpurchase by loyalty points. User 101 may be responsible for knowing theavailable point balance and/or be willing to keep the charge on thetransaction card account if the loyalty account ultimately does not havethe points to cover the charge/credit the charge. Alternatively, user101 may apply the available loyalty points to pay for a purchase withthe rest of the charge remaining on the transaction card account.

In one embodiment, the process may include a user facilitating the inputof information into loyalty system 100 (step 210). The information maybe inputted via keypad, magnetic stripe, smart card, electronic pointer,touchpad and/or the like, into user computer 102, POS terminal, ATMterminal and/or directly into merchant system 120 via a similar terminalor computer associated with merchant server 122. The information may betransmitted via any network 103 discussed herein to merchant system 120.In another embodiment, the merchant may enter the information intoloyalty system 100. This may occur, for example, when the userauthorizes the transaction over a telephone and the servicerepresentative inputs the information.

The input of information may occur as part of the process for chargingthe transaction card account for the acquisition. The transactioncharge, however, is tagged as a loyalty point exchange transaction. Inone embodiment, tagging a transaction may occur by saving theinformation in a file. In another embodiment, a tag may be a loyaltyaccount number, a flag, or any other suitable identifier. The tag may beassociated with the information, for example, as stored in a file.Merchant system 120 may be configured to capture particular information,described herein, from the information input to charge the transactioncard account. For example, particular fields of information may becaptured from each tagged transaction. In another embodiment, theinformation may be entered separately from the input of informationrelated to charging the transaction card account.

The captured information may include, for example, the cost or value ofthe acquisition and an identifier of the accounts involved in thedebiting and/or crediting steps. The identifier may comprise a singleaccount number, for example where the transaction and loyalty accountnumbers are linked to each other and identification of one account issufficient to identify the associated account. Alternatively, theidentifier may include multiple account numbers. For example, in anon-line embodiment, the one or more account identifiers may be enteredon a web page for specifying the appropriate loyalty account(s) and/ortransaction card account(s). Furthermore, the information or monetarycost may include a transaction fee and/or the like. The total loyaltypoints may be calculated, for example, by multiplying the monetary costof the acquisition by a multiplier (step 220). The multiplier may be aconstant, such as multiplying by 200 or another number. The totalloyalty points may also be calculated using a variable multiplier. Forexample, the multiplier may change based on the time and date, inaccordance with various promotions, and/or to reflect other businessobjectives. Furthermore, the multiplier may be set at different levelsfor various membership tiers.

Based on the identifier received in step 210, exchange system 130 mayverify the identified loyalty account (i.e., the participant is enrolledin the loyalty program and any other data verification), and determineif the account is active and if sufficient loyalty points exist in theaccount (step 230). Other verification steps may be used instead of orin addition to the aforementioned verification steps to qualify thetransaction for exchange of loyalty points. For example, exchange system130 may verify that the account is in good standing. In an exemplaryembodiment, to qualify, the participant should be enrolled in theloyalty program, have enough loyalty points to cover the entire cost ofthe transaction, and have an active account. In another embodiment,verification may be made through a transaction card account verificationsystem.

For qualifying participants, loyalty system 100 may debit (step 240) theloyalty points (at a conversion of approximately 200 points per dollaror any other multiplier), and credit the transaction card account forthe total receipt of charge amount. In exemplary embodiments,participants may realize the debit/credit (step 250) in real-time,within 48-72 hours of the actual order, or later if the transactions arehandled in a batch mode. Orders failing to qualify for loyaltyredemption and exchange (e.g., not enough points or not enrolled in theloyalty program) may remain valid transaction card charges and may besubject to a ticketing agency's no refund/no exchange policy.

In accordance with another exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention, the exchange of loyalty points may be accomplished without atransaction card. For example, merchant system 120 may be configured toaccept loyalty points as currency. In this embodiment, for example, user101 may contact a merchant in either an on-line mode or off-line mode.In an on-line mode, user 101 may use pull down menus, or the like, on amerchant web page to select loyalty points as a direct payment method.In an off-line mode, user 101 may request, for example over the phone,that the purchase be made directly with loyalty points. In either mode,the loyalty point account number is captured and communicated toexchange system 130. Next, the transaction is authorized, for example,by querying loyalty account system 140 to verify that user 101 isenrolled with an account in good standing and with sufficient points forthe transaction. Upon receiving authorization, loyalty accounts system140 debits the user's loyalty account and causes a payment to be made tothe merchant. The payment, for example, is made from loyalty accountssystem 140 through Automatic Clearing House credit, by check, and/or thelike, to the merchant's bank account.

FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate a more detailed exemplary loyalty pointexchange method 300. A user contacts a merchant in person,telephonically, electronically, and/or in like manner (step 310). Forexample, a user may contact a ticket seller in person by visiting a boxoffice, a ticket outlet, or the like. Furthermore, the user may contacta ticketing agency network by telephone through an interactive voiceresponse (IVR) system or by talking with a service representative.

The user may select goods or services for acquisition (step 320) andinitiate payment for the acquisition. At the point of sale, therepresentatives or IVR system may present to the user the option to useloyalty points to purchase tickets. In one embodiment of the presentinvention, the user is presented with the option of paying for theacquisition using loyalty points (step 330). In another embodiment, theuser may instead ask the merchant to accept payment using loyaltypoints. The user may respond (step 330) in any appropriate manner toindicate a desire to make payment using loyalty points. For example, theuser may press a number on the telephone, select an option from a pulldown menu, enter a code on a web page or into a point of service device,or verbally confirm to the service representative the desire to payusing loyalty points. Furthermore, a user may initiate theidentification of the transaction as a loyalty point transaction byresponding to a prompt on a point-of-sale device, swiping a card,selecting a web object, and/or the like. The user may also be given theoption to cancel the transaction or use of loyalty points towards thecurrent purchase.

In some embodiments, the ticketing agency phone prompt system may directthe participant to the appropriate phone representative or automatedphone line when the participant requests to use loyalty points to payfor the purchase. For example, the participant may interact with a livephone representative or enter responses on an IVR system. In oneexample, the participant may provide a transaction card account number,and indicate that the purchase is to be paid for using loyalty points.In another example, the provide a reward code or other identifier to thephone representative. The reward code may identify the transaction as aloyalty payment transaction. Furthermore, the reward code itself mayserve as an identifier of the accounts to be debited and credited. Thiscode may be provided to the participant through email, direct mailingcampaigns, or any other method. This code may be used in one or moretransactions. In these various embodiments, information about thetransaction may be recorded in a loyalty points file.

The user may also contact the merchant electronically, for example, viathe interne. For online purchases, in one embodiment, the participantvisits a ticketing agency website and selects event tickets forpurchase. If choosing to use loyalty points to pay for purchases, theparticipant may input a promotional code identifying the transaction asa loyalty point exchange transaction. In another embodiment, loyaltypoints are offered as a payment option. For example, the participant mayselect a transaction card and/or loyalty points as payment methods. Thisselection may be made from a drop down menu of payment choices, checkboxes, radial buttons, and/or the like. In one embodiment, in additionto selecting a transaction card from a pull down menu, the participantcan select a check box next to a statement indicating that a particularnumber of loyalty points may be debited from the participant's accountto complete the purchase. The participant may also enter or select theparticular amount of loyalty points to use during the transaction.

During the request to pay using loyalty points, the terms and conditionsmay be presented to the user (step 340). The transaction may initiallybe charged to a transaction card account (step 350). The charging to atransaction card account may occur using any appropriate method now inuse or later developed. For example, a point of sale device may initiatesuch a charge by swiping a charge card through the card reader.Furthermore, a file may be created containing information, loyalty data,related to the transaction. In other embodiments, the merchant systemmay tag a stored record by adding an identifier to the transaction orthe file to identify the transaction as a loyalty points transaction.The loyalty data may include data such as the price of the transactionand an identifier of the accounts involved in the loyalty pointexchange. The loyalty data may be captured (step 360) by storage of thedata in a file layout, database, and/or the like. The loyalty data maybe stored for later transmission (step 370), partially transmitted ortransmitted in real time. In one exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention, the loyalty data is communicated from the ticketing agency tothe exchange system on a nightly basis, as a batch process.

FIG. 3B illustrates a continuation of the exemplary loyalty pointexchange method 300 of FIG. 3A. Loyalty data is received from themerchant, e.g., ticket agency (step 380). The loyalty data may contain ascrambled loyalty account identifier and the amount of the eventcharged. Furthermore, the file containing the loyalty data may beuploaded into exchange system 130 (step 380). If appropriate, a built-inmacro may unscramble or decrypt the loyalty account identifier oridentifier (step 382). Then, another macro may convert the amount of thetransaction to an amount of loyalty points (200 multiplied by the debitamount) and/or an amount of loyalty points for different loyaltyprograms (step 384).

Exchange system 130 may then verify qualification for payment withloyalty points (step 386). For example, exchange system 130 isconfigured to receive messages in response to entry of an accountnumber/identifier. If the messages received indicate that loyalty pointexchange is not qualified, the exchange request is rejected and, forexample, a report is generated (steps 387 and 388). The messages thatmay result in a rejected request include “Invalid Account Number”, “NoLoyalty Data Found For The Account Number”, “Inactive”, or similarmessages. Loyalty accounts system 140 may further provide informationsuch as the tier status of the participant, the number of linked cards,number of miles, and/or the like for use by exchange system 130.

Next, exchange system 130 may transmit an adjustment amount and/oradjustment code to loyalty accounts system 140 (step 390). Theidentified account(s) may be debited (step 392) and a signal may be sentto transaction account system 150 causing that system to credit thetransaction card account(s). Next, the debiting of the loyalty accountmay be reported, for example, by exchange system 130 (step 394).Although various steps may be performed manually, in one embodiment, theprocess is performed in an automated manner from step 360 through step394.

Loyalty programs account for a large percentage of participant spending;thus, offering valuable reward opportunities increases loyalty andretention of this important base of participants and reduces the overallredemption costs. Additionally, integrated redemption programs forticket purchases have the potential to “burn” large amounts of loyaltypoints at a lower cost to the loyalty system than other types ofredemptions. Merchants benefit from new customers in the form of loyaltyparticipants who otherwise would not have purchased from the merchantwith money. Merchants may also benefit from incremental spending becauseconsumers may purchase more tickets due to the availability of loyaltypoints. Also merchants may benefit from joint marketing opportunities.Users of the loyalty point exchange systems and methods may experiencethe convenience of a one-stop process for using loyalty points for theirticket purchase. Furthermore, loyalty point exchange users have realtime loyalty point access for tickets and/or other time sensitivetransactions.

The present invention may be described herein in terms of functionalblock components, optional selections and/or various processing steps.It should be appreciated that such functional blocks may be realized byany number of hardware and/or software components configured to performthe specified functions. For example, the present invention may employvarious integrated circuit components, e.g., memory elements, processingelements, logic elements, look-up tables, and/or the like, which maycarry out a variety of functions under the control of one or moremicroprocessors or other control devices. Similarly, the softwareelements of the present invention may be implemented with anyprogramming or scripting language such as C, C++, Java, COBOL,assembler, PERL, Visual Basic, SQL Stored Procedures, extensible markuplanguage (XML), with the various algorithms being implemented with anycombination of data structures, objects, processes, routines or otherprogramming elements. Further, it should be noted that the presentinvention may employ any number of conventional techniques for datatransmission, signaling, data processing, network control, and/or thelike. Still further, the invention could be used to detect or preventsecurity issues with a client-side scripting language, such asJavaScript, VBScript or the like. For a basic introduction ofcryptography and network security, the following may be helpfulreferences: (1) “Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, And SourceCode In C,” by Bruce Schneier, published by John Wiley & Sons (secondedition, 1996); (2) “Java Cryptography” by Jonathan Knudson, publishedby O'Reilly & Associates (1998); (3) “Cryptography & Network Security:Principles & Practice” by Mayiam Stalling, published by Prentice Hall;all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

It should be appreciated that the particular implementations shown anddescribed herein are illustrative of the invention and its best mode andare not intended to otherwise limit the scope of the present inventionin any way. Indeed, for the sake of brevity, conventional datanetworking, application development and other functional aspects of thesystems (and components of the individual operating components of thesystems) may not be described in detail herein. It should be noted thatmany alternative or additional functional relationships or physicalconnections may be present in a practical loyalty point exchange system.

As may be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, the presentinvention may be embodied as a method, a data processing system, adevice for data processing, and/or a computer program product.Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of an entirelysoftware embodiment, an entirely hardware embodiment, or an embodimentcombining aspects of both software and hardware. Furthermore, thepresent invention may take the form of a computer program product on acomputer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program codemeans embodied in the storage medium. Any suitable computer-readablestorage medium may be utilized, including hard disks, CD-ROM, opticalstorage devices, magnetic storage devices, and/or the like.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the function specified in the flowchart block or blocks.The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks.

In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described withreference to specific embodiments. However, it may be appreciated thatvarious modifications and changes can be made without departing from thescope of the present invention. The specification and figures are to beregarded in an illustrative manner, rather than a restrictive one, andall such modifications are intended to be included within the scope ofpresent invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should bedetermined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents, ratherthan by the examples given above. For example, the steps recited in anyof the method or process claims may be executed in any order and are notlimited to the order presented.

Benefits, other advantages, and solutions to problems have beendescribed above with regard to specific embodiments. However, thebenefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) that maycause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become morepronounced are not to be construed as critical, required, or essentialfeatures or elements of any or all the claims. As used herein, the terms“comprises”, “comprising”, or any other variation thereof, are intendedto cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method,article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not includeonly those elements but may include other elements not expressly listedor inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Further, noelement described herein is required for the practice of the inventionunless expressly described as “essential” or “critical”.

1. A method comprising: transmitting, by a merchant server forautomating a partial exchange of loyalty points, transaction data to atransaction account system server, wherein the transaction accountserver charges a transaction account for a transaction amount related tothe transaction, and wherein the transaction data comprises account dataassociated with a transaction account; and transmitting, by the merchantserver, loyalty data to an exchange system server, wherein the exchangesystem server debits a loyalty account for the transaction, based onloyalty data corresponding to the transaction, by an amount of loyaltypoints equivalent to a currency value of a reimbursement amount that isa portion of a total amount of the transaction and, in response to thedebiting, credits the transaction account by the reimbursement amountfor the transaction.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprisingoffering an option of partially paying for a transaction amount usingthe loyalty points from a loyalty account.
 3. The method of claim 2,wherein the offering includes communicating between a participant and atleast one of: a live customer service representative, an interactivevoice response system, and a web based system.
 4. The method of claim 1,wherein the exchange system server is configured to rejectnon-qualifying requests for payment using loyalty points.
 5. The methodof claim 1, wherein the transaction is a purchase of an event ticket andwherein the merchant is a ticket agent.
 6. The method of claim 5,wherein the event ticket is purchased from an exchange.
 7. The method ofclaim 6, wherein the transmitting loyalty data to the exchange systemserver further comprises transmitting an identifier of a purchase priceof the event ticket, an identifier of each transaction account beingused, and an identifier of each loyalty account being used.
 8. Themethod of claim 7, wherein the exchange system server authenticates atleast one of the loyalty data, the identifier of a purchase price of theevent ticket, the identifier of each transaction account being used, andthe identifier of each loyalty account being used.
 9. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the loyalty account is associated with the transactionaccount.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein each transaction accountbeing used is associated with at least one of: a credit card, debitcard, smart card, stored value card, and a digital wallet.
 11. A systemcomprising: a tangible, non-transitory memory communicating with aprocessor for automating a partial exchange of loyalty points, thetangible, non-transitory memory having instructions stored thereon that,in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor toperform operations comprising: transmitting, by the processor,transaction data to a transaction account system server, wherein thetransaction account server charges a transaction account for atransaction amount related to the transaction, and wherein thetransaction data comprises account data associated with a transactionaccount; and transmitting, by the processor, loyalty data to an exchangesystem server, wherein the exchange system server debits a loyaltyaccount for the transaction, based on loyalty data corresponding to thetransaction, by an amount of loyalty points equivalent to a currencyvalue of a reimbursement amount that is a portion of a total amount ofthe transaction and, in response to the debiting, credits thetransaction account by the reimbursement amount for the transaction. 12.The method of claim 11, further comprising offering an option ofpartially paying for a transaction amount using the loyalty points froma loyalty account.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the offeringincludes communicating between a participant and at least one of: a livecustomer service representative, an interactive voice response system,and a web based system.
 14. The method of claim 11, wherein the exchangesystem server is configured to reject non-qualifying requests forpayment using loyalty points.
 15. The method of claim 11, wherein thetransaction is a purchase of an event ticket and wherein the merchant isa ticket agent.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the event ticket ispurchased from an exchange.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein thetransmitting loyalty data to the exchange system server furthercomprises transmitting an identifier of a purchase price of the eventticket, an identifier of each transaction account being used, and anidentifier of each loyalty account being used.
 18. The method of claim17, wherein the exchange system server authenticates at least one of theloyalty data, the identifier of a purchase price of the event ticket,the identifier of each transaction account being used, and theidentifier of each loyalty account being used.
 19. The method of claim11, wherein the loyalty account is associated with the transactionaccount.
 20. An article of manufacture including a non-transitory,tangible computer readable medium having instructions stored thereonthat, in response to execution by a merchant computer-based system forautomating a partial exchange of loyalty points, cause the merchantcomputer-based system to perform operations comprising: transmitting, bythe merchant computer-based system, transaction data to a transactionaccount system server, wherein the transaction account server charges atransaction account for a transaction amount related to the transaction,and wherein the transaction data comprises account data associated witha transaction account; and transmitting, by the merchant computer-basedsystem, loyalty data to an exchange system server, wherein the exchangesystem server debits a loyalty account for the transaction, based onloyalty data corresponding to the transaction, by an amount of loyaltypoints equivalent to a currency value of a reimbursement amount that isa portion of a total amount of the transaction and, in response to thedebiting, credits the transaction account by the reimbursement amountfor the transaction.